In a dream last night I saw a solution to the problem of the lack of EV charging stations in rural and semi-rural areas: private charging stations. People could install roadside government-subsidized stations on their land and list their service on EVSE.gov as well as on Apple Maps, Google Maps and Waze. Apple and Android users download a free smartphone app with current listings, port compatibilities, and charging levels these stations support. Landowners could set their own prices and compete with each other for customers, letting the market set the going rate.

They have the land to do it and they get a revenue stream while providing a clean, hands-off service to their community and to travelers from nearby interstates and highways. It would be less likely to work in urban and suburban areas due to the lack of parking space as well as zoning laws, but there will be exceptions to this in many locales. Multi-acre properties on the edge of town could easily find the space needed.

Customers have nothing to do while charging, so sell them something while they wait. Since power for refrigeration is right there at your EVSE, put a produce or meat stand next to your station and make even more money. Hell, serve coffee and donuts. In cannabis-legal states, sell them your dank farm-to-car buds too!

Thoughts?

 

I don't think there are that many people that wish they could run their own gas station and convenience store equivalent.

 

We wouldn’t need more than one station every ten miles or so, and they would not have to have contact with customers at all by just offering charging.

 

 

“Every truth passes through three stages before it is recognized. In the first stage it is ridiculed, in the second stage it is opposed, in the third stage it is regarded as self-evident.”—Schopenhauer

 

I think you're going to be in stage one for a long long time.

 

Perhaps not that long. We already have two installations under serious consideration by family and friends.